Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What Can be Put Off Till the Following Day

I can't say that this philosophy has always served me well, but try as I might it does seem to be one of my guiding principles.

Yesterday I finally went down to the Chinese Consulate to get our visa's. The trip is two weeks away. I was putting it off remembering how awful it was to get visas when we traveled to get Devlin. The visa office was a small cramped, windowless room. You can to stand on-line for hours. Imgaine my surprise when I pulled up yesterday and learned that the office had moved two blocks east. I actually took this as a bad sign, expecting lines that were so overwhelming that more space was needed. But no, the new office is clean and bright and when you arrive you take a number and sit on a comfortable chair until your number is called. Quite the upgrade. And the room was nearly empty.

Having put it off for so long I was in a bit of a pickle. The Mac's and Liam's passports have ony 5.5 months left on them. To get a visa you have to have 6 months left. I had overlooked this fact due to forgetting that children's passports are only good for five years. I had gotten the boys' passports at the same time that I had renewed mine and knew that I had plenty of time left. They seem to be letting it slide. I had visions of having to go to the 24-hour passport office in Chicago and then making a return trip to the consulate. So far, so good. I pick everything up tomorrow.

The one other hitch is they want to see a copy of Devlin's Chinese passport. At first they weren't going to accept her application since they needed her Chinese name in characters, but since I had here adoption papers they copied it off that. They do want her passport before they will release the visa at pick up. Now I just have to find it. It is not in either of the two places I expected it to be, which makes this a much bigger job.

The funny thing is most people think I am highly organized, since to the outsider, I am. I showed up at the consulate with a document carrier. I had pockets for passports, visa application and all of our passport photos. I had a folder with our complete itinerary, including all hotels. I had a folder with all our flight numbers. I had the adoption certificate. But really, I just show well. The house is a disaster. I just pulled out of the mess what was needed and packaged it really well.